Tag Archives: bakersfield plastic surgeon

According to ABC’s website, one of the most sought-after gifts this past holiday season wasn’t jewelry. It wasn’t clothing. It wasn’t a nice trip to a foreign land. Nope. It was cosmetic surgery, which for today’s purposes, includes things like Botox® Cosmetic injections, fillers and other goodies that make us more youthful looking, as well as surgical procedures.

In all the years I’ve been a plastic surgeon in Bakersfield, I can tell you that many people have enjoyed the services we provide here; however, I cannot honestly recall anybody asking for a gift certificate for a breast augmentation or a nose job!

So you tell me–are Bakersfield residents just more practical or has this trend just not come far enough up the coast from LA?

Spending a lot of time in the sun’s rays can cause skin damage ranging from fine lines and wrinkles to pigment spots. This damage can be even more pronounced if you don’t protect yourself with sunblock that cites SPF 30 or above. Thankfully, my California plastic surgery practice’s MedSpa allow patients to combat sun damage. Whether patients choose IPL photorejuvination, chemical peels, or microdermabrasion, they can reverse the ill effects that the sun causes. However, unfortunately for patients, these treatments can’t reverse skin cancer. And with 120,000 new cases being diagnosed each year in the United States, this is a real problem.

Why is skin cancer such a major issue?

Part of it has to do with the fact that not everyone attempts to protect their skin while at the beach, pool, or even the park. Even riding in the car for a long period of time can still give you a lot of sun exposure. However, skin cancer is also on the rise due to the popular trend of using tanning beds.

Statistically, a person under thirty who engages in the use of a tanning bed ten times a year is eight times more likely at risk for skin cancer. Despite this not being new information, people continue to utilize tanning beds and play Russian roulette with their lives.

So why do people to continue with this risky behavior?

A new study has found that fake baking in a tanning bed is actually addictive. A person who is tanning experiences the same brain activity and blood flow that a person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol experiences. A reward-and-reinforcement trigger is induced while tanning. Each person that tans receives golden brown skin as their reward, but in order to keep the reward they must continue to tan. Thus, the cycle begins.

What can we do?

For one, if you haven’t fake baked already, don’t start. If you are a fake baker, try and slowly reduce your sessions. There are other tanning alternatives out there. Spray tans and tanning creams are easily accessible. When done correctly, you will definitely look as if you’ve spent the day outside. Of course, there is nothing like utilizing the sun’s natural rays. Not only does the sun provide you with a healthy dose of vitamin D, which many people are deficient in, it naturally browns your skin. Just be sure to slather on the sunblock first.

Though everyone views their fat as an enemy, fat can actually be very helpful. In fact, fat aids your body in being healthy. However, even those unhealthy amounts of fat could be a friend to us in the near future.

Why could fat be potentially helpful to our health?

Our fat happens to contain an abundance of autologous stem cells. If you aren’t familiar with these unique cells, they have the ability to form “daughter cells” that can either become more stem cells or other cells that the daughter cells are subjected to. Meaning, if stem cells form daughter cells near brain cells those daughter cells can become brain cells too. This can occur with other types of cells too. This being the case, scientists are now studying stem cells to see if they have regenerative aspects. If this is so, stem cells could potentially be used to cure ailments such as kidney disease, heart disease, and multiple sclerosis among others.

Even further, though studies are still inconclusive, stem cells may have a hand in aiding fat transfers. Over the years liposuction techniques have evolved, allowing for more intact fat to be removed. The more intact fat, the more viable stem cells you have. Suddenly, the success rates of fat transfer procedures increased. Scientists believe that the success is due to the increase in stem cells in the fat.

What does this mean?

Considering the ability of stem cells, and the amount of stem cells residing in our fat, it makes sense to take advantage of these aspects. Unfortunately, stem cells age just like we do, meaning they become less viable as the years progress. Some diseases, such as diabetes, can even wipe a stem cell’s special ability out. Therefore, banking our fat after a liposuction procedure, such as the one performed at our California plastic surgery practice, isn’t such a bad idea.

As of right now, Dallas-based BioLife is the only known place to cryogenically preserve fat, however, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this trend spread. If and when it does, it would be a great option for anyone who undergoes liposuction. Why let the fat go to waste when it could potentially save our life sometime down the road? Bank it now and save your life later.

Wanting to look good, wanting to primp, and wanting to feel beautiful are all fairly common and quite natural feelings. To a degree we may even push these views on our pets, especially dog breeds that have long hair. All you have to do is watch a dog show and you’ll see how much pride some owners taken their dog’s appearance, not to mention how they perform in the shows themselves. But I’d have to say that grooming your dog, and shelling out cash on a plastic surgery procedure for your dog, are two very different things.

Firstly, my California plastic surgery practice does not perform puppy plastic surgery. In fact, even if you do own a dog that needs plastic surgery for a medical reason, it is usually done by a q.ualified veterinarian, and maybe a plastic surgeon The truth is not all plastic surgery procedures performed on dogs are unnecessary. In fact, breeds such as Bulldogs and Shar-Peis sometimes have their excessive wrinkles cut away due to high risk of infection down the road. Bulldogs, and other dogs with flatter faces also have a tendency to have breathing problems. These are plausible reasons to have your dog undergo a form of plastic surgery that will suit their medical needs.

However, some dog owners are becoming a little too eccentric when it comes to their lovable pups. In recent news, a 7 year old Bulldog named Munson received testicle implants, because the owner was embarrassed by Munson’s neutered sack hanging out in the open for everyone to see. Like ear cropping and tail docking, this is type of procedure is incredibly unnecessary for the dog.

Interestingly enough, statistics show that it is usually men who want these Neuticals implanted in their dogs. Dogs aren’t aware of what they are lacking, nor do they care. Money for such an unnecessary procedure could easily be donated to shelters and adoption programs that truly need this money.

I can’t help but not be surprised, however. We, ourselves, want to appear put together, beautiful, and youthful, so it may only be natural to try and impress this upon our pets too. However, when it comes down to it, we may be better off attempting to rescue and save dogs instead of placing implants in them so they may appear to be intact. The fact of the matter is, they won’t ever know the difference.

In sunny California, cosmetic procedures have a lot to do with fixing aging skin. The more wrinkles we have, the more we worry about how old we appear to others. To combat wrinkles I perform procedures and treatments such as face lifts, Botox and laser skin resurfacing. But have you ever wondered if it’s not just age causing your wrinkles?

Recent studies show that car exhaust and soot is now deemed the third major modifiable factor that causes skin to age early. The top factor is ultraviolet rays, while second place is taken by tobacco smoke. This means that living in a highly populated area could be part of the reason your skin has begun to wrinkle earlier than expected.

It’s been known that soot and car exhaust can be bad for the respiratory system and that it causes minor cognitive failure in the elderly. It even has been linked to type 2 diabetes and is now being studied to see if it is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. But the fact that it can induce skin aging is yet another strike against industrial areas.

Unless you literally live in the country, it’s hard to avoid excessive car exhaust and soot. But you can contribute to the environment by cutting back on the amount you drive, and walk or ride a bike instead. If you live in a heavily populated industrial area, be sure to take extra care of your skin. And when all else fails, there are treatments to combat those early wrinkles at my California plastic surgery practice.

Many people aren’t too thrilled with the fat on their bodies. But did you know that having some fat is actually beneficial to your health? In fact, fat stores energy, influences your ability to fight infections, regulates your blood pressure, and affects the way your blood forms clots. However, even though fat has its perks, many health issues can spring up when fat becomes excessive upon the body.

Our bodies store two types of fat: subcutaneous and visceral. Subcutaneous fat is the useless fat that gathers beneath our skin. This type of fat is what my California plastic surgery practice can perform liposuction on. Interestingly enough, aside from a flattering look upon the removal of subcutaneous fat, no health benefits have been found.

It’s the visceral fat that you really have to watch out for. Stored in your abdomen, this is the evil fat that can cause serious health risks such as diabetes, cardiac disease, high cholesterol, and hypertension among other things. Meaning the less visceral fat you have, the better off you are.

However, don’t just think you are off the hook if you have a small belly. MRIs have shown that even people who aren’t obese can harbor large quantities of visceral fat. What could cause this in so many people? Heredity can play a part, causing fat to be more likely stored as visceral fat. But our unhealthy habits are usually the main cause. That extra scoop of ice cream, or even those extra few beers during the game, could be leading you down a road to health issues galore.

So how can we rid ourselves of visceral fat?

The only real way to ditch this unhealthy fat is to diet and exercise regularly. There are some medications available to help maintain weight as well as Bariatric surgery for patients suffering from obesity. There may even be a surgical procedure to remove visceral fat one of these. But until then, your health is ultimately in your hands and no one else’s.

A thyroidectomy is not a procedure I do, however, my California plastic surgery practice does see many patients that have undergone the procedure who want to fix their post-op scarring on their necks. In California, laser skin resurfacing is a great way of treating those scars. Interestingly enough, due to the high amount of thyroidectomy patients coming to plastic surgeons afterwards, otolaryngologists are now using a few plastic surgeon techniques to cut back the intensity of thyroidectomy scars.

One of the techniques being used is marking the incision sites while the patient is sitting up. By doing this the incision site falls in a more natural area compared to if the site was marked after the patient was lying down and gravity was pulling at the skin in a different direction. These surgeons are also working on trimming any traumatized skin edges to minimize scarring, as well as using surgical glue instead of sutures to close up. Of course, the main focus is to take care of the thyroid, so you cannot expect an extravagant plastic surgeon touch. Otolaryngologists are not specifically trained in plastic surgery, let alone facial plastic surgery, after all.

I, on the other hand, am a highly regarded facial plastic surgeon. I am highly qualified to work on those scars that you’d love to get rid of. Not only that, I can perform a facelift and get rid of your scars at the same time, giving you an overall better appearance after your thyroidectomy.

Dr. Vip Dev enjoys a distinguished surgical and academic career. He has authored or co-authored over 30 publications in General, Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery, as well as aesthetic techniques. His busy office in Bakersfield, CA offers aesthetic & reconstructive plastic surgery as well as and skin rejuvenation.